Science Explorer Interactive view Map

Research in San Francisco

Science Explorer records 365 research institutions in San Francisco, United States. The highest-ranked on research quality in 2022–2025 are University of California, San Francisco, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Research institutions
365
15 of them ranked worldwide
Research works
216k
▲ 10% vs 2013–17
Top-10% rate, 2022–2025
21.1%
record average 16.5%

A city carries no overall standing here. The composite score is built for institutions and countries, the units its floors and field normalisation were designed around. An empty rank on this page is a statement about the measure, not about the place.

Which research institutions are in San Francisco?

#InstitutionWorksAgainst the largest hereWorld rank
1University of California, San FranciscoUniversity 112,124 #85
2San Francisco State UniversityUniversity 11,268 #4,577
3University of San FranciscoUniversity 11,238 #2,325
4San Francisco VA Medical CenterHospital / health system 5,807 #3,458
5University of California San Francisco Medical CenterHospital / health system 5,651 #6,081
6San Francisco General HospitalHospital / health system 5,153 #6,570
7Institute on AgingNonprofit 3,176 #2,905
8California Pacific Medical CenterHospital / health system 3,080 #8,845
9Golden Gate UniversityUniversity 2,892 #20,724
10Bechtel (United States)Company 2,644 #25,503
11University of California Hastings College of the LawUniversity 2,270 #27,550
12UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer CenterResearch facility 2,238 #2,829
13Cal HumanitiesNonprofit 1,794 #13,101
14Roche (United States)Company 1,682 #15,928
15Gladstone InstitutesNonprofit 1,614 #2,419
16California Academy of SciencesArchive 1,550 #13,608
17Public Policy Institute of CaliforniaNonprofit 1,476 #18,182
18Letterman Army Medical CenterHospital / health system 1,323 #16,692 all time
19Pacific EnvironmentInstitution 1,254 #14,798
20Bay InstituteNonprofit 1,181 #6,271
21San Francisco Department of Public HealthHospital / health system 1,128 #8,054
22California Institute for Regenerative MedicineGovernment institution 1,103 #2,062
23San Francisco FoundationNonprofit 1,074 #13,183
24Federal Reserve Bank of San FranciscoInstitution 1,003 #15,571
25QB3Nonprofit 963 #2,304
26Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital and ClinicsHospital / health system 918 #5,863 all time
27WestedNonprofit 905 #15,684
28Saybrook UniversityUniversity 878 #25,466
29California Institute of Integral StudiesUniversity 816 #15,341
30Wells Fargo (United States)Company 775 #14,409
31San Francisco AIDS FoundationNonprofit 769 #7,443 all time
32City College of San FranciscoUniversity 748 #19,711
33Tumori FoundationNonprofit 736 #13,025 all time
34Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical CenterHospital / health system 719 #16,688
35Mechanics' InstituteInstitution 708 #12,680 all time
36Autodesk (United States)Company 693 #11,390
37Global Brain Health InstituteNonprofit 681 #7,712
38San Francisco VA Health Care SystemHospital / health system 616 #6,346
39Jewish HomeInstitution 585 #13,631 all time
40Evotec (United States)Company 566 #14,388
41Dignity HealthHospital / health system 558 #18,709
42Salesforce (United States)Company 555 #11,220
43St. Mary's Medical CenterHospital / health system 548 #14,913 all time
44McKesson (United States)Company 544 #25,212
45Eos Neuroscience (United States)Company 521 #24,593
46Pacific Research InstituteInstitution 402 #18,579
47California Public Utilities CommissionGovernment institution 399 #35,655 all time
48Parker Institute for Cancer ImmunotherapyResearch facility 385 #945
49ExploratoriumArchive 381 #18,523 all time
50Benchmark Research (United States)Company 377 #19,032
51St. Joseph's HospitalHospital / health system 368 #20,389 all time
52Kaiser Family FoundationNonprofit 338 #10,071 all time
53Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern CaliforniaResearch facility 334 #21,992 all time
54IDEO (United States)Company 333 #23,712 all time
55Center for Policy AnalysisNonprofit 332 #14,224 all time
56Glaucoma Research FoundationNonprofit 324 #34,046 all time
57Levi Strauss (United States)Company 319 #26,777 all time
58Hinge HealthHospital / health system 315 #19,223
59Catholic CharitiesNonprofit 310 #39,634 all time
60OpenAI (United States)Company 303 #11,742

By fractional works over the whole record; world rank on research quality in 2022–2025. Bars are scaled to the largest institution in this city, not to anything off the page.

How concentrated the city is

The same institutions as shares of everything the list accounts for. A city that is one university and a city that is twelve read alike as a table and not at all alike here.

University of California, San Francisco: 55.0%San Francisco State University: 5.5%University of San Francisco: 5.5%San Francisco VA Medical Center: 2.9%56 others listed: 31.1%55%largest
University of California, San Francisco112k · 55.0%San Francisco State University11k · 5.5%University of San Francisco11k · 5.5%San Francisco VA Medical Center5,807 · 2.9%56 others listed63k · 31.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

What is San Francisco strongest at in research?

Relative to its size, research in San Francisco is most concentrated in Transplantation, Family Practice and Virology (4.3× the world share in Transplantation).

  1. TransplantationSubfield · 50.9 works4.3×
  2. Family PracticeSubfield · 50.6 works4.0×
  3. VirologySubfield · 61.6 works4.0×
  4. AgingSubfield · 24.3 works3.8×
  5. Neuropsychology and Physiological PsychologySubfield · 31.0 works3.6×
  6. Psychiatry and Mental healthSubfield · 450.9 works3.4×
  7. Emergency MedicineSubfield · 211.2 works3.3×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient against the world baseline. Inside a single field a city is a meaningful unit, which is why this is where a city is measured at all.

Which keywords describe research in San Francisco?

By fractional works in 2022–2025, weighted toward what it does more of than the world: Epidemiology, Inflammation, Immunotherapy, Quality of Life, Mental Health, Public Health, Aging and Risk Factors.

▲ more of its work than of the world’s◆ about the world’s share▼ less than the world’s

Size is fractional works in 2022–2025 in the topics tagged with each word; colour is the word's share of this city's work against its share of the world's. The 40 words are chosen for being large and distinctive. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 40 words, with their numbers
  1. Epidemiology2,131▲ 2.0×139 topics
  2. Inflammation968▲ 1.75×83 topics
  3. Quality of Life803▲ 2.1×60 topics
  4. Mental Health760▲ 1.95×47 topics
  5. Public Health743▲ 1.92×71 topics
  6. Oxidative Stress670▲ 1.54×62 topics
  7. Risk Factors653▲ 2.2×37 topics
  8. Immunotherapy642▲ 3.4×19 topics
  9. Treatment638▲ 1.98×52 topics
  10. Cardiovascular Disease574▲ 1.94×39 topics
  11. Cancer567▲ 1.59×58 topics
  12. Biomarkers538▲ 3.0×18 topics
  13. Aging518▲ 3.6×19 topics
  14. Depression511▲ 2.2×26 topics
  15. Clinical Trials453▲ 2.5×19 topics
  16. Diagnosis434▲ 1.75×41 topics
  17. Chemotherapy416▲ 2.2×25 topics
  18. Metabolic Syndrome391▲ 1.81×24 topics
  19. Neurological Disorders389▲ 2.6×20 topics
  20. Mortality375▲ 2.4×13 topics
  21. Anxiety335▲ 2.7×12 topics
  22. Global Burden335▲ 2.4×12 topics
  23. Neuroimaging334▲ 4.6×11 topics
  24. Health Disparities327▲ 4.7×8 topics
  25. Radiotherapy324▲ 3.2×13 topics
  26. Genetic Mutations320▲ 2.8×23 topics
  27. Primary Care316▲ 3.2×15 topics
  28. Neurodegeneration309▲ 3.9×11 topics
  29. Alzheimer's Disease288▲ 3.8×9 topics
  30. Antiretroviral Therapy280▲ 6.5×6 topics
  31. Mortality Risk270▲ 4.3×6 topics
  32. Neuroinflammation262▲ 3.5×6 topics
  33. Cognitive Decline229▲ 7.2×2 topics
  34. Caregiver Burden224▲ 7.7×3 topics
  35. Cancer Immunotherapy219▲ 5.4×3 topics
  36. Cognitive Training219▲ 9.0×2 topics
  37. Dementia212▲ 8.6×2 topics
  38. Mild Cognitive Impairment211▲ 9.5×1 topic
  39. Vascular Risk Factors211▲ 9.5×1 topic
  40. Mortality Rates185▲ 7.4×2 topics

What research is done in San Francisco?

  1. 1 Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research Psychiatry and Mental health 211 works
  2. 2 CAR-T cell therapy research Oncology 145 works
  3. 3 HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions Infectious Diseases 124 works
  4. 4 Glioma Diagnosis and Treatment Genetics 112 works
  5. 5 Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life Economics and Econometrics 104 works
  6. 6 Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers Oncology 103 works
  7. 7 Alzheimer's disease research and treatments Physiology 103 works
  8. 8 Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Cancer Research 102 works
  9. 9 Diversity and Career in Medicine Gender Studies 90 works
  10. 10 Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations General Health Professions 87 works

Research output over time

1990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more.